Advertising apparatus



I v. CALABRESE 2,812,602

ADVERTISING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 2'7, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i 1 m I i, v

ATTORNEY Nov. 12, 1957 7 Filed Sept. 27, 1955 V. CALABRESE ADVERTISING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States i aerrt 2,812,602 ADVERTISING APPARATUS Vincenzo Calabrese, Turin, Italy Application September 27, 1955, Serial No. 536,911 Claims priority, application Italy September 29, 1954 2 Claims. (CI. 40-68) This invention relates to an advertising apparatus which contains an ash-tray and can give advertising ingdications variable with the displacement of the ash-tray, so that, in addition to afford the convenience of an ashtray, it also offers the user the possibility of manipulating the same for the purpose of bringing into evidence different elements of its advertising complex.

The device according to the invention is essentially characterised by the fact that the ash-tray rests on reling means connected with the movable portion of the advertising complex, of which they cause the displacement during the motion of the ash-tray. Conveniently, these rolling means consist of one or more rolls incorporated with the device and carrying, preferably they themselves, the movable advertising part, successive elements thereof being made visible, in consequence of the displacement of the apparatus on a plane, through one or more windows formed in the top wall of the ash-tray.

An embodiment of the advertising device according to the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 show the apparatus in perpective, in side elevation and in plan view, respectively;

Fig. 4 is a section along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a partial bottom view;

Fig. 6 is a section along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a bottom view of the body of the apparatus without the roller.

As shown by the figures, the advertising apparatus according to the invention comprises a body 1, made of any suitable material, for example of ceramics, which provides, in the front portion, an ash-tray 2 of any desired form. In the back portion 3 of the body is mounted, freely rotatable, a roller 4 arranged in such a manner as to protrude slightly beyond the lower contour of the body 1, as may clearly be seen in Figs. 2 and 4, so that the apparatus, when it is placed on a plane, rests on the roller itself, and when it is moved, sets the roller in rotation.

In the upper wall of the portion 3 of the body is a window 5 through which a portion of the surface of the roller is visible.

The window 5 may have any desired contour; in the example shown it has a substantially rectangular shape with two lateral square expansions.

On the cylindrical surface of the roller 4 are applied, in any known or convenient manner, advertising texts or figures, diagrammatically shown at 6, which, when the apparatus is moved on the supporting plane, thereby causing the roller 4 to rotate, become successively visible in the window 5. Thus the user of the ash-tray can, by simply moving the same, operate the apparatus to cause the hidden elements of the advertising complex to successively become visible.

As shown in the figures, on the lateral walls of the roller, which become visible through the lateral expansion of the window 5, there may be applied, for example, on one side the characters 1, 2, X and on the other the points corresponding to the dice play.

The roller 4 may of course be made of any suitable material, for example of ceramics, like the body 1 of the apparatus. In this case, the advertising texts and figures or others are conveniently applied by a process of decalcomania on the surface of the roller which will afterwards he varnished so that the advertising portion is duly protected from possible damages from friction on the supporting plane or from the washing of the ashtray.

The mounting of the roller in the body 1 of the apparatus may be realized in various manners. A very simple method, particularly convenient when the body 1 and roller 4 are made of a ceramic material, is shown merely by way of example in the drawing. The internally hollow roller is made with recessed front walls 7 provided with a large hole 8. Metal discs 9, of a diameter equal to that of the recess, are fastened on the recessed walls 7, and in their center hole is inserted the axle 10 in such a manner, that the roller may rotate freely about said axle. Holes 11, conveniently formed in the discs 9, permit the outflow of the water penetrated into the roller 4 during the washing of the ash-tray.

Two recesses 12 (Fig. 7) are formed in the body 1 of the apparatus.

The assembly of the roller 4 and axle 10 is positioned in the body 1 in such a manner that the ends of the axle it} will penetrate the recesses 12, wherein cement is cast afterwards, as shown at 13 in Fig. 6, so as to immobilise the axle it) in the body of the apparatus. Washers 14, mounted on the portions of the axle 10 that extends outside the roller, serve the purpose of preventing axial displacements of the roller.

The described apparatus may of course be modified without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thus, for example, it is not indispensable that the rotating means, in particular the rotating rollers, should carry the advertising part of the apparatus themselves. The advertising texts or figures or others may be applied on other movable members connected, by a suitable drive, to said rollers by which said members are set in motion, in such a manner as to cause successive portions of the advertising complex to become visible. Also the mounting of the roller or rollers in the body of the apparatus may be performed in any suitable manner, different from the one described.

In any case, the described apparatus represents a very conspicuous advertising means, inasmuch as it associates the practical utility of an ash-tray with a mechanism that the user of the ash-tray will by curiosity be led to move in order to make visible also the hidden portion of the advertised information.

What I claim is:

1. An advertising apparatus comprising an ash-tray, roller means rotatably mounted in said ash-tray body and slightly emerging from the base of said body so as to be set in rotation by the displacement of the ashtray on a surface, advertising indications associated with said roller means so as to be set in motion by rotation of said roller means, and slot means formed in the top Wall of said ash-tray body, through which variable portions of said advertising indications set in motion by said roller means become successively visible.

2. An advertising apparatus comprising an ash-tray, a roller freely rotatable on an axle fixed in the ashtray body, said roller slightly protruding beyond the lower contour of said body, so that said apparatus rests on said roller and, when it is moved, sets said roller in rotation, advertising indications applied on the cylindrical surface of said roller, and a window formed in the top Wall of said ash-tray body through which, on rotation of said roller, successive portions of said advertising indications became visible.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

